As the event is fast approaching, we become more excited. The ONE Fighting Championship 9: Rise to Power is scheduled tonight, May 31, 2013, 7:00 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. This is going to be historic, since this is the biggest event in Philippine MMA yet.

Five of our Team Lakay Warriors will be proudly representing the Philippines. The ONE FC Featherweight Champion, Honorio “The Rock” Banario will be having his first title defense against Koji Oishi from Japan. Honorio, who is also the current URCC Lightweight Champion, has no plan of giving away his belt. He intends to take a hold of it for a long time.

Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon, the undefeated URCC Bantamweight Champion, is fighting another Japan’s pride, Masakatsu Ueda, for the finals of the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix. Belingon has a goal to be the next Filipino to have a World Championship Belt around his waist and a win against Ueda is going to be a great stepping stone for him to reach that goal.

Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang, the reigning URCC Welterweight Champion, is undoubtedly the face of Filipino MMA. He will be battling against Iranian Kamal Shalorus, who also plans to give the Filipino fans a great fight. Eduard promised to bring a different game this time and we will be witnessing that on his fight tonight.

The current URCC Pinweight Champion, Rey “The Punisher” Docyogen, is going to give the never-say-die attitude and wants to redeem himself from his lost to Shinichi Kojima last April of this year in Malaysia by aiming to defeat the second Japanese fighter he has to face, Yasuhiro Urishitani. Both are fighting under the ONE FC Flyweight division, the most fast-paced and fast-moving division in MMA.

Another flyweight bout, Team Lakay’s Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio will be fighting Andrew Leone, an American who is fighting out of Phuket Top Team, one of the best gyms in Asia. This will be one of the most exciting fights of the night. They both expressed their desire to bring explosive fight, so we’ll see about that come fight night.

So there you go about the ONE FC event. The weigh-in is done. All the Team Lakay fighters made weight. Cutting weight is one of the most significant aspect in preparing for a fight. Besides fighting in the ring/cage, which of course is the most important thing during a fight; not everybody knows the importance of cutting weight. The effort, time, and sacrifices given to cutting weight are very essential factors to be considered. I think for a fighter to be called “professional”, he has to give his everything to make his weight to be fair with his opponent and to follow respectfully the rules of the promotion.

On the other hand, another event going on right now in Manila is the PNG-POC, Wushu National Championships, where most of our Wushu scholars and members from the Cordillera Admininstrative Region are also here for the competition. The event is on-going and ends on June 02, 2013.

Almost all Team Lakay members and supporters are now in Manila for the two events especially for the ONE FC event. Their families, relatives, friends, fans and supporters are here to show their love and support.

Another great thing here is that fans from the northern part of the Philippines, as well as from around the country, are now in Manila for the said event. Likewise, fans from other countries came to visit the Philippines to watch the biggest MMA event the ONE FC has ever had yet. For this reason, therefore, events such as these contribute to the tourism campaign of the country.

After the events local and international tourists can still go on other tourist destinations in the Philippines. While it’s still vacation time particularly in the Philippines, for the students who came to Manila for this event, , they also have the chance to go to some places around Metro Manila and its nearby tourist spots before the start of classes in the coming weeks.

The ONE FC: Rise to Power is going to be fun and exciting! Like that of the first ONE FC event last year in Manila, which was held at the Smart Araneta Colliseum, the deafening cheers from the fans will again fill up the Arena at the SM Mall of Asia. It’s going to be amazing since the fighters promised to give their best and the fight of the night thereby, giving the fans full entertainment and at the end of the night, we hope we all go home with fulfillment, enjoyment, and positive results that we all have been hoping and praying for. GOD Bless Team Lakay Pilipinas on this endeavor!

On behalf of our Team Lakay fighters, Thank you very much for your support and prayers!

Matago-tago tako am-in! Mabuhay tayong lahat!

Indeed, when it comes to MMA and other Combative sports, It’s also More Fun in the Philippines!

After a long layoff, former UFC middleweight standout Dongi “The OX” Yang is back and will face a very durable fighter in Jae Young Kim in the main event of TOP FC’s inaugural show on June 29, 2013 in South Korea.

Yang and Kim are two of the most well-liked middleweights in South Korea. They have the same fighting style – stand and bang. Both guys are capable of knocking anybody out with a single blow.

This is a very intriguing fight as Yang will face a fighter as talented and powerful as he is. Yang’s wrestling and endurance might be the biggest factor for this fight as besides from being famous for his punching power, Yang proved that his endurance and wrestling can keep up with some the best middleweights in the world. But don’t count Jae Young Kim out as he is also dangerous both feet and on the ground. Kim has a very deadly striking game and a descent ground game as he has a 3 submission wins in his career over Hee Seung Kim, Kelvin Fitial and Charles Troglen.

Fight Works MMA with their head coaches Brandy Quiocho (bottom left) and Pete Brooks (bottom right)

Founder: Brandy Quiocho

Year Founded: May 27, 2012

Brandy is former MMA practitioner himself, a father of two lovely girls and a very considerate coach to his pupils.

Quiocho started training BJJ with fast-rising MMA lightweight prospect, Isaiah “Ice” Ordiz and Manny Jimenez. He and his buddies at first, tried some BJJ tourneys, until one day, he found himself in front of a computer searching muay thai techniques through YouTube. Brandy really researched everything from the basics of Thai boxing, from how to properly hold the mitts to other basic things that a beginner should learn in the awesome sport of muay thai. Of course, with the help of Ordiz, Brandy integrated their grappling skills with their newly acquired Thai boxing expertise.

After honing their striking and ground skills, they entered in several amateur MMA competitions until they met the URCC Cruiserweight champion, Pete “The Professor” Brooks, who helped them with a lot of things that are related to training MMA.

“I came up with the name “Fightworks” with the agreement from Pete Brooks. Fighters from our team were kids from the streets like “tambays” construction workers (Out of school youth). I simply ask them if they wanna be fighters, some stayed and became fighters but some did not and left because of the hard training probably.”

Being a head coach and a gym owner at the same time is very difficult, especially when you don’t have enough resources to sustain other expenses that might occur in the future and no one would like to support your fighters whenever they have an up coming fight. But despite of the hardships, Brandy, still, persisted and continued to train young fighters in San Pedro, Laguna, because he knows that changing someone’s perspective in life through martial arts is priceless.

“The main reason I continued as a head coach and orchestrator is for my young fighters na nakikita kong nagkaka silbi ang buhay, it became a passion and didn’t realize the program is being effective for the team.”

Filipino-American Featherweight phenom continues his journey to be one of Asia’s finest MMA fighters as he is now the newest endorser of arguably the most famous footwear for athletes today, Vibram FiveFingers Philippines.

Boasting a 12-0 (10 via submissions and 2 via decisions) in his pro MMA record, Striegl is undoubtedly one of the best MMA fighters Philippines has ever produced. Striegl is the first-ever Filipino fighter to be sponsored by Vibram FiveFingers Philippines.

Striegl is currently signed under Pacific X-treme Combat (PXC) and will make his third PXC appearance in August against Japanese MMA vet Takumi Nakayama, who successfully made his PXC debut against tough Hawaii fighter, Jonny Pecyna. Striegl and Nakayama will be the second round of the PXC’s four-man featherweight tournament. The first round was held last weekend at PXC 37 between Jang Yong Kim of South Korea versus Hawaii’s Nate Thorell. Kim submitted Thorell by way of first round submission victory (kimura) and catapults himself into the tournament finals and waiting for the winner between Nakayama and Striegl.

It was a very disappointing night for Team Lakay last Saturday night at the PXC 37 event. It was one of the worst nights for the team. We went home frustrated. Our shoulders were down. There were questions in our minds. We had our hearts broken. We were not victorious.

It could have been a night of the opposite feelings. For most of our fights in the past, we usually go home successful, that even if we have not won all our fights, we have won at least one of the fights and it was a bitter-sweet feeling.

But that night was different. It was difficult. We felt that everything was fallen into pieces. It felt like we let a lot of people down. These were the feelings which we are not used to. Feelings we don’t like to feel.

But as we reach home in Baguio City, the coolness of the breeze seems like eased everything, at least the heat of our head and the pain in our hearts. After a while, we tend to accept everything.

Now, I can talk, I can share; now I can say that’s just part of the game. It was what it was. What has done has been done. We have to move on. We sat down, talked together after the fights and evaluate what had happened. It was different when all has been reviewed and assessed. When everyone has given their words of encouragement, we start to move on again.

Indeed, it was all part of the game. In a competition, especially in sports, it’s either we win or lose. If we win, it’s better, if we lose, we learn. As real and professional fighters, we have to get back on our feet and move on. Fighting is also a learning experience. It happens to every fighter.

As I have said to someone who questioned our performances before, I gave him this answer: “NO great Champion has a perfect or zero-loss record”. They all, at some point in their life, had lost their battles, learned, moved on and became one of the greatest of all time. The important thing is that, we fought, we did our best, we stood up and we move forward, applying what we have learned and become the best with all these lessons.

One thing which is great here is that, it was not just the one who fought who learned, it was the whole team. What one has experienced inside the cage, everybody in the team experienced it with him. The feelings that the fighter felt, the team feels with him (victorious or defeated). Then we all get up together for our future fights.

Now, after all that has happened, with the lessons and challenges we have with us, we have to focus on our upcoming fights in the coming week. First, we have the Philippine National Games, Wushu National Championships on May 27 to June 02, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. Thirteen (13) from Baguio Wushu Sanshou Team and 11 from Benguet Wushu Sanshou Team will be participating in the said event. We all train and prepare them further for the said event, together with their brothers at Team Lakay (mostly also a member of the team), they train with the Champions. This is the development of the grassroots level of the team. The experiences and trainings hone them to be future Wushu and MMA Champions. It is one of the visions of Team Lakay to develop a pool of talented athletes from the Cordillera Administrative Region and the Philippines. This event is also in preparation for the Asian Junior Wushu Championship sometime in August wherein the Philippines is going to be the host country.

Second, on May 31st, Team Lakay will be invading Manila for the biggest MMA event in the Philippines yet, the ONE Fighting Championship: Rise to Power. Five Team Lakay warriors are going to be having their toughest fights of their careers. Honorio “The Rock” Banario will be defending his ONE FC Featherweight title for the first time against Japan’s veteran fighter, Koji Oishi for the main event of the night.

Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon will be facing Masakatsu Ueda for the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix finals wherein the winner will have the chance to fight for the title later on this year.

Eduard “Landslide” Folayang will be fighting against Iranian Kamal Shalorus who is a high-level wrestler who also had fought in the WEC and UFC.

Rey “The Punisher” Docyogen will be going against Japanese Shooto Champion, Yasuhiro Urishitani.

The fifth Team Lakay fighter on this card is Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio. He will be facing off with the american and fighting from Phuket Top Team, Andrew Leone. It’s definitely a big load for them fighting in front of their fellow Filipino fans in their homeland. But it’s not going to be exhausting since they enjoy what they do; it’s their passion fighting either in or outside the country. Instead, it gives them pride and honor to represent the country. Many say the pressure is on them, since hopes and expectations are on their shoulders. But for as long as they’ll do their best, with the aim to be victorious, they know their countrymen will be proud of them. Team Lakay fighters don’t like to let their supporters down. Whenever our fans are watching us fighting, it adds fuel to our fighters to perform at their best and energizes them to showcase their full potential.

The prayers and faith of our fighters, together with that of our countrymen (being a prayerful country) will knock on God’s door and answer them.

With these, we don’t claim that this is our fight alone; this is the fight of the whole nation. So, together with our Team Lakay fighters, we dedicate all these fights to all of our supporters. As early as now, we would like to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope and pray that we will all succeed come May 31st at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City, Philippines. Please be there with us and together we will rise to power!

South Korea is undoubtedly one of Asia’s top producers of UFC fighters. With its abundant martial arts history, South Korea is becoming the MMA powerhouse in Asia-Pacific.

South Koreans are extremely skillful in MMA as they grew up with a lot of martial arts in their environment such as Taekwondo, the oldest martial arts in Korea called “Taekkyeon” and Hapkido.

South Korean fighters such as Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim, Chan Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung, Lim Hyun “The Ace” Gyu, Kyung Ho “Typhoon” Kang and Dongi “The Ox” Yang are responsible for putting their country on the map as one of the world’s top maker of world-class MMA fighters.

Talent-wise, as I’ve mentioned above, Korea is the home of some of the best MMA warriors in the world, but aside from Road FC, the largest MMA promotion in the country, the lack of MMA promotions in South Korea is putting their fighters’ global rise on hold as some of the up and coming guys badly needs exposure before heading to the big leagues.

Yesterday, TOP Fighting Championship (Top FC) was officially launched and will make their inaugural show on 29 June 2013 in Seoul, South Korea.

TOP FC is organized by three gentlemen including Korean Top Team head coach, Dongjin Ha, Yeongjin Gwon and Chanyeol Jeon. The said MMA event will be aired live on FX Korea, Pandora TV and KM Player.

There are several big names that will compete in the first-ever TOP FC card on June 29th.

According to Dngjin Ha, former UFC middleweight standout, Dongi “The Ox” Yang is arguably the biggest name to compete in the said event. Though his opponent is yet to be announced, whenever Yang is fighting, especially in South Korea, expect a lot of Dong Yang fans as he is one of Korea’s most exciting MMA fighters today.

One bout is already confirmed for the opening show of TOP FC as Legend FC vet Yanghae “Hungry” Jun takes on PXC vet Doo Hwan Kim in the light heavyweight division.

A.J Matthews is a welterweight prospect based out of San Diego, California. Training out of Blackline Training Center, Matthews possess well-rounded potential given the combination of his athleticism, strong striking arsenal and developing ground game.

The 23-year-old Matthews is a Filipino/English/American fighter that has been around MMA for more than 10 years. A.J was named by Sports Illustrated as top prospect in MMA by Josh Gross, and has created buzz behined his name.This buzz caught the attention of Bellator FC and AJ signed a deal with this organization.

Matthews just recently made it into the first-ever Bellator’s reality TV show called “Fight Masters” alongside Joe Riggs,Mike Bronzoulis, Chris Lozano, Bryan Travers and Artenas Young and other great talents who will compete in the said show which will start airing on June 19th.

MMA Orient: Hi, A.J, How is everything going for you and your career?

“Everything is going great right now in my career, since we have talked last I suffered a loss to a seasoned Dom O’grady in Bellator MMA at the Ceaser’s Palace in Windsor, Canada. The loss was difficult for me to accept, but as a professional, in this game, things like this are going to happen. In preperation for that fight I had the opportunity to film a Sherdog.com Prospect watch series that turned out great!

After the O’grady fight, it was all eyes and preparation on the reality show. I had a great camp preparing for this tournament, I was working with my team and fight family Alliance Training Center in Chula Vista, CA where I am closely watched by head coach Eric Del Fierro, assistant coaches Adrian Melendrez and George Castro among my mentors and teammates. I made one addition to my preparation and that was bringing on Phil Davis’ strength and conditioning coach Chad Macias. I am a lucky guy to have the coaching staff that I have and I am even a luckier guy to have my favorite fighter/mentor Brandon Vera watching over me as well.”

Matthews is a very promising fighter who looks to keep his fights standing. He shows a nice straight right, good kicks from both legs and is a heavy-handed puncher with definite finishing power on his feet.

MMA Orient: You are one of the casts of Bellator’s first-ever reality show called, “Fight Masters”. Can you tell us a bit about the show? Does Fight Masters exactly the same as UFC’s TUF? What is the difference of it compared to TUF?

“Showing up in New Orleans for the show was awesome! I have already fought in New Orleans where I had the greatest moment thus far in my MMA career, the knockout of Charlie Rader. If you havn’t see it yet, please youtube “sick soccer kick K.O”, having this memory of fighting in New Orleans I had a good feeling about competing here again.

The only part of the trip that I can talk about is before any filming started. I land in New Orleans and wait for a shuttle to the hotel, somehow I am standing with Rob Mills, Cole Williams, Nick Barnes and I can’t remember who else, but we weren’t allowed to talk to each other. The silent game was played for a week in separate hotel rooms all the way till the weight cut. As soon as we arrived at our hotel rooms the producers took my book “Gates of Fire” and my phone, I was stuck watching “Heat” with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The biggest difference between Fight Master and the other show is that the fighters pick their teams, and the fighters pick their fights.”

MMA Orient: There are several big names who joined the show such as Joe Riggs,Mike Bronzoulis, Chris Lozano, Bryan Travers and Artenas Young. Do you think you got what it takes to beat these guys and win the $100,000 grand prize?

I wouldn’t have signed up to do the reality show, I wouldn’t have signed my contract with Bellator MMA, I wouldn’t waste my time training every day, dealing with the pain, if I didn’t know in my head and my heart that I belong to be there. I would put myself up against anybody in the world, and I am so happy that Bellator MMA, Bjorn Rebney, Sam Caplan, Zac Light, all were able to bring together a group of fighters that can scrap! This is why we do it!

MMA Orient: What do you think is your biggest advantage to other fighters who are competing in this show?

The biggest advantage that I have over the rest of the cast is that the way I fight is scary, I throw power, I am technical, capable of wrestling and grappling. I have been training to be here for 10 years now, I used to help Jason Lambert get ready for King of the Cage fights in a garage when I was in high school. I am an up and comer with something to prove, and I am willing to put everything on the line in order to make it.

MMA Orient: What can your fight fans expect from AJ Matthews throughout the show?

I am exactly who I am, people can expect to see one of the last of a dying breed.

With the continuous admiration of fight fans around the world, One Fighting Championship keeps on signing world-class talents who can be their biggest assets in years to come.

The latest addition to the ultra-talented One FC lightweight division is the Canadian-Costa Rican submissinon specialist, Ariel “Tarzan” Sexton (7-2-1).

Sexton is part Canadian and part Costa Rican. He was born and raised in Vancouver Canada and at 20 years old, he moved to Costa Rica.

He is a BJJ black belt under the tutelage Ryan, Renzo and Daniel of the Gracie family. His first teacher was Mauro Sergio, a BJJ black belt from Ryan Gracie. The Canadia-Costa Rican fighter loves all types of sports and martial arts. He is currently training at his own gym in Costa Rica at Athletic Advance. He is an MMA veteran who fought all over the world in many organizations and has won a few titles in MMA and BJJ, and he was also part of UFC’s reality show, TUF season 12.

I don’t know if how many fighters in the fight business today has the coolest nicknames, but Ariel Sexton in my opinion has one of the most unique moniker in the industry. He is called “Tarzan” whenever he is inside the cage.

“My nickname is “Tarzan” because when I first came to Costa Rica, I was to visit my family and stay for two months. Then that turned into 2 years without even going home. Obviously, it was because I found BJJ and wanted to stay. My friends in Canada think we live in trees in the jungle and were bugging me and said I’m like Tarzan..It stuck, plus I’m the king of the jungle.” Ariel said.

With “Tarzan” being the latest addition to the stacked One FC lightweight division, he is for sure, one of those fighters who fans are interested to see inside the cage as he comes from a good BJJ background. He is very thankful and pumped for the opportunity to fight in Asia’s biggest MMA promotion.

“I have always loved the Orient and follow many customs they have. I started fighting MMA because of watching Pride FC. I always wanted to fight in a place where they respect you not only for winning, but for your lifestyle and samurai spirit. For the last year, I have thought and investigated One FC. I wanted to get into that organization badly. With the help from friend and fellow fighter, “The Super Korean” Denis Kang, my goal was reached. This is the biggest and important event in my life to date. I will take it the utter most serious and will show the Asian public just how pro I am.”

Sexton has a six-fight deal with One FC. The lightweight prodigy from Costa Rica looks to make his debut against one of Asia’s rising prospect, Peter Davis on June 15th in associate organization and Malaysia’s biggest MMA league, MIMMA (Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts).

“I’m signed for 6 fights and want to make my debut as soon as possible. They have me on a waiting list because they have a ton of ready fighters. I was told that my first fight will be in Malaysia this June 15th in an affiliate organization called MIMMA. But was assured that I’ll be very active and fighting more often than not.”

Sexton has trained with the best people in the industry at some of the outstanding MMA gyms in the world. Though he started honing his skills under Renzo Gracie in New York, Sexton’s hunger to be a well-rounded fighter brought him to try visiting several gyms, who later helped him on becoming a deadly MMA fighter.

“Ever since I started training MMA seriously, I would do all my camps at Renzo Gracie Academy in NYC. Over the last 6 years, my MMA mentor has been the legendary Daniel Gracie. He has opened many doors and helped me grow as a fighter and person. I have also done camps with the Mark Dellagrote Muay Thai School in Boston and with The Edge Wrestling Team in Hoboken, New Jersey. My team in Costa Rica is top notch and also is more than a notable mention amongst these other schools.”

Training indeed with Daniel and Renzo Gracie made Sexton a better fighter inside and outside the cage. His game, personality and outlook in life changed ever since training with these amazing people,

“Well, when you get to train with people that are better than you and have been there before, it helps to minimize your errors and keeps you very humble. I have always had a great personality towards helping others and staying grounded.”

When asked on what are his biggest strengths and the things he need to work on the most,

“I would have to say my biggest strength is my heart and my preparation for bouts; over worker who never complains and does more than expected. As for the fighting, my speed and agility has not been matched, and my strength is like a middleweight. I need to work on everything because if I want to be a champ, I’m going to need to be the best in every area. BJJ is good, wrestling is fair and striking is descent. You will be the judge!”

Tarzan is a fighter who is comfortable to take the fight on both standing up or ground. Once he takes you down, he will impose his will on you and grinds you until you commit an error. His grappling is world-class and he has this striking who he developed during his training at Mark Dellagrote Muay Thai School in Boston. Despite of being such a good fighter, Sexton hates on calling opponents out,

“I don’t like to call out fighters because it’s a bit cocky, but I want the top level guys to show my top level game.”

Sexton defined what it means to be a fighter:

“Fighting to me is to have goals and reach them, to set your self apart from the ordinary person, to make sacrifices and maybe not live the normal 9-5 job with a steady pay and have security in your future. But to inspire other that if you love something and want to do a certain job to go after it and never stop until you fulfilled yourself. I enjoy the daily grind of taking your body beyond its limits and pushing your mental edge until it breaks down. I love the feeling of winning after a great camp and having people say “Wow, how did you do that, I wanna learn. Fighting has to be in your mind, body and soul; you have to be born with it.”

Being a lightweight fighter fighting under the One FC brand, Sexton is aware that the current lightweight champion is a great fighter and one of the most feared fighters in the world today. He respect Aoki, but if he would get a chance to fight him, he’ll push the pace and shock the world.

“Aoki is a great BJJ and MMA fighter. I think he has to be the most dangerous guy on the ground out there. He is a champion and always will be. I have a great amount of skills and determination to win my fights and first, I’ll concentrate on my bout coming up. But if I would get the honor to fight the champ, I would push the pace and shock the world.”

Costa Rican MMA fighters are not that really making huge buzz in the MMA world, except for Sexton, who is probably the most successful MMA fighter in Costa Rica today. But talent wise, there are a lot of skillful fighters down there.

“MMA in Costa Rica is very big and has been around for about 10 years. We have the highest level in Central and Latin America. Our only problem is that we are shadowed by soccer and it is very hard to get sponsors and even recognition. We have fighters that are fighting in Europe, Canada, USA, all over Latin America and now in Asia. We are so talented that we only export so the world knows of Costa Rica.” Sexton said.

Three more weeks until his much-awaited fight in Asia, “Tarzan” is working his tail off to impress thousands of One FC fans, and he promised to give very exciting and entertaining fight for his Asian MMA fans,

“Expect from me in my One FC fights to push the pace, throw bombs, flying knees, always the fight of the night, hard ground and pound with jiu jitsu scramble ability that crowds love. Plus, I can talk great and I always love to be in front of the camera, a true showman that respects others and wishes the best to the One FC family. See you soon!

Crisanto Pitpitunge failed to defend his title as he was defeated by the skillful Japanese fighter, Michinori Tanaka via Unanimous Decision.

It was a very entertaining fight between Tanaka and Pitpitunge as two of the best bantamweights in Asia gave all they got to entertain the fans.

In the first round, everyone thought that Crisanto will make Tanaka tap as he caught the Japanese submission specialist into a tight rear-naked choke. But Tanaka looked very relaxed while Pitpitunge’s squeezing his neck – that’s how high level grappler Tanaka is. Since that RNC attempt by the former champ, it was all about Tanaka’s wrestling.

Tanaka and his team were very emotional after the fight as they all knew that their labor paid off as they’ll bring the PXC bantamweight belt back home in Japan. In this sport of MMA, each bout can only have one winner and one loser. Getting a victory in this tough sport is no doubt, one of the best thing that has happened to a fighter while losing can put a fighter down emotionally and mentally.

We know the fact that all fighters are looking for that win; we must also know that some captures it, others don’t.

After enduring some rigorous training and exhausting weight cut, Korean Top Team’s Jang Yong Kim is back to his winning ways as he submitted an up and coming fighter from Hawaii, Nate Thorell in the opening round via kimura.

While Kim is celebrating his win against Thorell, his team mate, Hong Seung Chan was at the dugout thinking what went wrong in his game plan as he was defeated by Reno Remigio of Hawaii in the third round by way of TKO (punches). Remigio’s Muay Thai played a big factor on his victory over the South Korean fighter. He is connecting solid knees and razor sharp elbows whenever they are in the clinch position. Also, the take down defense of Remegio helped him get the W for his PXC debut. Though stepping up late to fight Chan, the part Hawaiian-Filipino Remegio showcased his superb striking abilities and left a message to the rest of the lightweight division that he is here to stay.

Fight Works MMA went 2-0 as Rolando Gabriel Dy submits Arex Montalban by way of armbar and Ernesto Montilla Jr. shocked the crowd by taking out Team Lakay’s Jerome Wanawan in the second round. The Laguna-based fight team is going to celebrate its first anniversary on May 27th and getting big wins last night were an early gift for the whole team who struggled to get some sponsorship prior to PXC 37. Someone really needs to support this team financially because the talents over there are exceptional. I predict that FWMMA will be one of the Philippines’ best MMA team in a couple of years.

While Fight Works MMA celebrates their huge victories last night, Team Lakay arguably had their toughest outing so far as they went 0-3. Wanawan faced a much improved Ernesto Montilla last night. Montilla showed speed, power and his excellent endurance. Montilla handed Jerome his second straight losses. Troy Bantiag faced Trevin Jones in a match where most of the fight fans knew he will dominate. But Jones fought smart and took the fight to where Bantiag has his weakness – on the ground. Jones defeated Bantiag via UD. Team Lakay vows to bounce back strong on August 31st as 5 of its best fighters will fight in ONE FC 9 ‘Rise to Power’.